


Two Weeks

by KatieNoctem



Series: Kore's Adventures in Devildom [5]
Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: Fixing things, Gen, Kore has zero chill and no patience for these shennanigans, Mentions of Death, lesson 16 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26043664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieNoctem/pseuds/KatieNoctem
Summary: Two weeks. It had been two weeks since the incident.It was enough.Spoilers for Lesson 16.Kore deals with what happened. Some mending is in order.
Series: Kore's Adventures in Devildom [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806544
Kudos: 42





	Two Weeks

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since the incident.   
Two weeks of the boys fussing over her.   
Two weeks of Mammon clinging to her almost 24/7 (not that she could blame him) and sending death glares at the youngest when he dared show his face.   
Two weeks of outbursts that ended in her yelling that she was not Lilith and could they just STOP.   
Two weeks of Beel's quiet sadness.   
Two weeks of nightmares.   
Two weeks of Belphegor avoiding her like the plague.

It was enough.

It's not that she wasn't scared, the nightmares were proof enough of that. In the midst of all her apologies to Barbatos about being spotted and messing up he'd warned her she would probably never forget this, despite the merge, apologised that the best he could do was offer something to help her sleep, to combat the nightmares. She'd refused.  
"I don't run from my problems Barbatos." She sighed. "Even when that problem is someone trying to kill me."  
He sighed, she wasn't wrong. How many of the brothers had tried to kill her now? She offered him a small smile, weak but there. "Can I ask something?"  
He shook his head. "Lord Diavolo will not let you go back in time again."  
Kore waved a hand dismissively. "I'd rather not. Just… when you collapsed the realities…" she swallowed hard, staring down into the teacup as if it would give her the answers "promise me they're not all there waiting for me to come home?"  
He watched her carefully for a few moments, handing her a handkerchief as tears started to roll down her cheeks. "This is the first time I've seen you cry since that night."  
"Barb… please?"  
"That reality no longer exists. There is no one waiting for you there because there is no there."  
"Okay. Thank you." She dabbed her eyes gently. "He looked… they all looked so broken when they thought I was gone. I couldn't do that to them again. Not when they wouldn't know. After I made that terrible joke about haunting them."  
"You had better run along home now my lady, else Mammon comes after my head."  
She gave a small strained laugh at that, he knew she didn’t like the formalities, they only came out when she was in trouble or he was trying to distract her. "Thank you Lord Barbatos. And sorry again for all the trouble."   
He rose, taking her teacup and setting it down on the tray before guiding her to the door. "Don't be, it's a welcome change to be surprised for once."  
She paused at the door, enfolding him in a gentle hug.   
_ 'Full of surprises indeed.' _ He thought, though he didn't push her away. She gave him that sad smile before she made to leave for real this time.  
"One last thing Kore." She turned, one eyebrow raised. "My Lord has decided not to punish Belphegor any further."  
A long exhale. A nod. This time the smile she offered him had more life.  
"Let's have tea again Barbatos."

It's not that she wasn't angry either. She was furious. She had trusted him, had wanted to help him, she had put her faith in him and he had abused that. Had manipulated her and used her and to top it all off the little shit had  _ killed  _ her. She was almost used to the boys trying to kill her at one point or another, Lucifer had tried twice and been  _ very serious _ about his intentions. But it had always been part of some loss of control, Leviathan had been so jealous his sin took over, Beel had been hungry and pissed about his custard and Lucifer had been absolutely fuming, both times. Angry in a way that made it abundantly clear where Satan had come come from. But Belphie hadn’t been out of control, maybe he had been angry, but he wasn’t angry at her specifically the way the others had been, he had been utterly fucking delighted when he was killing her. She could almost understand why he might blame humans for Lilith’s death, maybe even stretch towards understanding some of the anger - after all if someone had hurt someone she cared about then… well, it was good no one really had. But this was more than that, this felt like utter betrayal after she risked her life for him. The image of his smile as he killed her flashed through her mind, it was terrifying sure, but more than that, the manipulation and betrayal and being blamed for something that happened hundreds if not thousands of years before she was even thought of  **pissed. her. off.** Everything she had done to try and fix the bonds between the brothers was crumbling around her because one demon had to hold a grudge and she was utterly done with that.

But more than the fear and the anger she was sad. Sad to have been betrayed by someone she thought she was growing to like. Sad to see the hurt and worry on the brothers faces. Sad to have lost the quiet comfortable feeling of  _ home _ she got from the House of Lamentation after all this time. She felt like she’d apologised a thousand times, for being careless, for getting hurt, for making Mammon so upset, for making all of them so upset and worried. The sadness crept into everything like an infection, dampening the anger and the fear.

So here she was. Scared. Angry. Tired. And still determined to fix this goddamn family.   
And there was Beel making his sad puppy eyes at her again. ‘ _ Demons should not be capable of sad puppy eyes’.  
_ “Beel?”  
He startled, flinching away from her slightly, his cheeks flushing when her face fell. “Sorry.”  
Kore reached out, gently placing her hand on his. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment, steeling herself. She had to do this, she worked too hard on repairing their relationships to let one asshole with some truly terrible decision making skills break everything.  
“Where is he?”  
He flinched again, even as he tightened her grip on his hand. “Um… the attic I think.”  
_ ‘Right. Of course he’s in the attic, no one goes up there. Though I guess whatever spell Lucifer put on it is broken now if he can get up there. _ ’ Kore nodded. “Okay.”  
As she stood and turned to leave he caught her wrist in his hand. “Do… do you want me to come?”  
“I wish I could say I’d be okay but, please? I’d appreciate it.”  
He nodded, following her up towards the attic. 

Belphegor was curled up in a pile of blankets, cuddled into his pillow like she’d found him so many times before. Back when the door was locked and she was trying so desperately to get him out of them. That might not have been this Belphegor, but the memories were the same even if the demon in them wasn’t the one in front of her. Or hadn’t been. Time travel and alternate realities made her head hurt. He stirred as they approached, slowly lifting his head to blink sleepily at them. It took a few seconds, but when he realised she was there he blanched, shifting back like a cornered animal. She wondered if maybe she should be a little pleased, be glad that he was worried, but he had the same damn sad puppy eyes that Beel did and she couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. Even if he had murdered her, she’d seen the way the others looked at him now. The way Mammon looked at him in this reality. So different from the one she came from, and dammit she needed to fix this. And she needed to mend things if she ever wanted to sleep right again. If Mammon ever wanted to sleep right again too, she guessed.  
“Hey.”  
When had her voice got so quiet and shaky? Did it even matter?  
“Why are you here?”  
It was sharp, defensive and hurt. Beel shifted uncomfortably beside her.  
Kore sighed. “We need to talk.”  
“What could we possibly have to talk about human?”  
She flinched just a little at the bite in his words, Beel placed a hand on her shoulder.  
“Belphie…”  
At the sound of his brother’s voice the younger demon wilted slightly, curling back into his blankets.  
“Why would you come to talk to me? You’re so scared of me you’re shaking.” He mumbled, and goddamnit both of them had the same sad puppy eyes.  
“I’m not…” But Kore could feel her body trembling now he’d pointed it out. “Maybe I am shaking, and maybe I am scared. But goddamnit I did not spend all this time trying to put this family back together to let it fall apart now.”  
“Why do you even care?”  
“I’m stubborn, ask anyone.” She padded slowly across the floor, signalling gently with one hand for Beel to stay where he was. “I’m stubborn and I’m well known for sticking my nose into things that don’t concern me. And if Lucifer trying to kill me twice didn’t stop me then I’m not letting you stop me either.”  
“I killed you.” His voice was so small, so different from the wicked tone she heard in her nightmares. “Why aren’t you more scared of me? Why don’t you hate me?”  
“You did kill me.” She nodded, settling herself down on the floor in front of him. “You killed me and you enjoyed it and honestly I’m really angry about that, and I am scared. Never thought I was allowed to be scared of dying, but hey, you learn something new every day.” She ignored the confused look he shot her, taking a deep breath. “But I also want this family to be a family again. And I think I’m going to haunt you forever, and that’s more than enough punishment for anyone.”  
“I could kill you again.” He snarled, and if the cornered animal metaphor hadn’t been true before it was now. He looked in pain, eyes darting around the room looking for an escape.  
“You could.” Kore steadied her breathing, glancing back over her shoulder towards Beel. “And I could marry Lord Diavolo and become Queen of Devildom, but the odds on either of those are slim. Not that I think you’d try again, but I’m not alone this time.”  
“What makes you think I wouldn’t try again?”  
“I’ve got eyes?”  
Belphie growled in response and she heard Beel shift behind her.  
“I know what remorse and guilt look like. I also know the Belphie I met before this was sweet, if a sarcastic little shit, and I know his brother thought we’d get along great. And maybe I thought that too.” Kore sighed, holding out a hand. “I’m not saying I forgive you just yet, and maybe you’ll decide you hate me anyway, but I’d like to at least try. Besides -” her mouth quirked up in a wicked smirk “-how are you going to enjoy my innate ability to piss off Lucifer if you’re always hiding from me?”  
That got a hint of a smile out of him and he gently reached out to shake her hand, muttering a quiet ‘truce’ under his breath. Somewhere behind them there was a choked sob and both heads whirled in Beel’s direction. Kore smiled softly.  
“C’mere you big softy.” She sighed, holding out her arms.  
Smothered in the suffocating warmth of Beel’s broad frame, her face pressed into Belphie’s neck she sighed. “Hey Belphie? Just so you know, I’m sorry.”  
“The fuck are you apologising for?” His voice cracked and she could swear she felt something wet drip onto her shoulder.  
“I should have come sooner.” Tears were filling her eyes now and she felt Beel squeeze them a little tighter.  
“I’m sorry too.”

She was going to save this damn family if it killed her. Again.


End file.
